Openly gay State Rep. Jeremy Moss was sworn in Sunday to his new role as state senator. An enthusiastic crowd of more than 100 came out to the Plumbers Local 98 headquarters in Madison Heights to hear speaker after speaker laud the young leader with praise before the oath of office was administered by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget Mary McCormack.
Southfield Mayor Kenson Siver acted as the afternoon's emcee and was the first to address Moss's crowd of supporters.
"This is the evolution; the next step in Jeremy's political journey," Siver said. "It all started when he was 5 years old and his mom and dad asked Jeremy where he'd like to go on a trip. Normal 5-year-olds would say Disney World. No. Jeremy said Washington, D.C."
Siver added that he felt Moss was uniquely qualified to hold public office.
"He bleeds politics," Siver said. "This is his passion: public service and being in the political arena."
U. S. Sen. Gary Peters praised Moss's maturity.
"Although he may be fairly young in age, 32 years old, we're all from Detroit so we know in the car business it's not the age it's the mileage that really matters," Peters said. "And, in Jeremy's case, he has a lot of mileage. … The thing about Jeremy is he's authentic about this. He's sincere. I've watched him through his career over these last years and I just think he's ideally suited to be in public service and the kind of man that he is is more important than ever right now."
Michigan Attorney General-elect Dana Nessel brought a little levity to the proceedings. She mentioned that post-election she had been taking meetings with folks on the other side of the aisle.
"Over and over when I had these meetings to try to get to know Republicans they'll say to me, 'Hey, you don't have to worry about me. I'm cool. I'm a friend of Jeremy's,'" Nessel said. "I never really know what they mean by that. Does that mean you're cool with the gays, or cool or with the Jews or maybe, like, a little of both? I'm not exactly sure. But either way, Jeremy, thank you so much for being an ambassador on behalf of Democratic gay Jews everywhere."
Turning serious for a moment, Nessel added to her speech that it was "a privilege and an honor to be here today to speak on behalf of Jeremy Moss."
"Jeremy cares so deeply about the people that he serves and is so full of the conviction that he can actually make a difference," Nessel said. "He can help people and he has helped people for so many years."
Just 25 when he was elected to the Southfield City Council, Moss became particularly close with then-mayor Brenda Lawrence, who had already been something of a mentor for him for several years. When she was nominated for lieutenant governor in 2010, Moss was her only staffer. Then, in 2015, Moss began the first of two terms in the state House.
"His love of public service is something that I'm so proud of, and I was excited to vote for him to be my state senator," Lawrence said. "Many of you have mentored people and it comes a point in time when you step back from the mentoring and you become a supporter. Publicly, I want to say to Jeremy today [that] I congratulate you and take the title of mentor away from us and stand here today as a supporter, as someone who honors and respects you and is so excited for you."
Looking ahead, Lawrence made sure to emphasize that she feels Moss will have a long future in politics.
"His future is just unlimited," she said. "I want to be healthy and alive so I can be on his campaign for president of the United States."
After taking the oath, Moss spoke for only a few minutes, but he was direct in his message.
"We rank as the least transparent and least ethical state government in the country and in this lame duck period the majority party has proven why that's the case," Moss said. "They have gutted ballot proposals that you voted on. House Republicans have sent a plan to the state Senate to strip some of the authority from our incoming attorney general all the while Senate Replications sent a plan to the house to strip some of the authority of our incoming secretary of state. This undermines the will of the Michigan voters."
He then vowed to bring change to Lansing.
"Trust in state government is broken and I'm going to the state Senate to restore that trust," he said. "We don't have to remain the least transparent and the least ethical state in the country."
Openly Gay Jeremy Moss Sworn in as State Senator
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